“Did he know you were with child when he left you?” Rosamund wanted to know.
“I didn’t realize it until just a few days ago. Baen left the same day my uncle returned to Otterly,” Elizabeth said. “We had handfasted ourselves, yet he still went.”
“He must wed you properly,” Rosamund said quietly.
“Children of a handfast union are legitimate,” Elizabeth said.
“There can be no cloud of any kind tainting this child’s right of inheritance,” Rosamund told her daughter in a suddenly hard voice. “My uncle Henry Bolton’s last wife bore many bairns, but only the eldest was a true Bolton. Still, my uncle did not deny her brats for fear of being ridiculed, though all knew he was a cuckold. But they bear the name Bolton, and so under the law are Boltons. I will not have one of them suddenly arriving at Friarsgate to take it from us, Elizabeth.”
“Did you not hear me, Mama? I never want to see Baen MacColl again!”
“Do not be ridiculous, Elizabeth,” Rosamund snapped. “You will be properly wed in the church so that none of Mavis Bolton’s brats—should any still be alive, or near—can claim our home. When is the bairn due?”
“In the spring, I suppose,” Elizabeth said in a surly voice.
Rosamund drew a long, deep breath. “When were you last linked with the moon?” she demanded of her daughter. “We must know if this child will come early or late.” Her brow furrowed in thought. “If he left at the beginning of October then you had to be with child then,” Rosamund considered. “So probably by August.” She looked for Albert and, finding him, motioned him towards her. “Find Mistress Elizabeth’s woman for me,” she said.
“Yes, my lady,” the steward said. Standing so near he had heard everything that had transpired between the two women. Had he not been recently elevated to his position he would have been eager to share what he had overheard. But he was the steward of the hall, and a man in his position did not gossip. Finding Nancy, he sent her back to the hall. She undoubtedly knew of her mistress’s condition, but had said nothing. Such a woman of discretion would make a good wife for the steward of the hall, Albert thought.
Nancy curtseyed to Rosamund. “My lady?”
“Can you recall when my daughter was last linked with the moon, Nancy?”
“’Twas just after Lammastide,” Nancy said. “I remember because Mistress Elizabeth did not feel well, which is unusual for her. And Master MacColl carried her to her chamber for me to care for that evening.”
Rosamund nodded. “You know?”
Nancy flushed and nodded. “Aye, my lady.”
“How long have you known?” Rosamund wanted to learn.
“Why, only in the past few days, my lady,” Nancy answered. “Mistress Elizabeth was complaining that the laundress was shrinking her garments of late. But I care for my mistress’s gowns. Then I noted that her bodices were tight these days, and that she gave evidence of a belly. The words were no sooner out of my mouth when I realized what it was I had said, and said so to my mistress. She was surprised, but then she agreed it must be true.” Nancy curtseyed again to Rosamund.
“Thank you, Nancy. You may go and prepare your mistress’s bedchamber for her now. You must see she is well taken care of in the next few months.”
“Yes, my lady,” Nancy said, curtseying a third time and hurrying off.
“Logan will go north to Grayhaven as soon as possible and make the arrangements with Lord Hay,” Rosamund began.
“You can do what you want,” Elizabeth said. “I will not marry the man because I am carrying his child. He left me, Mama. His father was more important to him than I was. When it came time to make the choice he chose his sire over me. My son will never do that!” She reached for her goblet.
Rosamund stayed her hand. “You were a fool to make his decision a choice, Elizabeth. Can he not love his father and you? You know how to care for Friarsgate, but you know nothing of a man’s heart, or how to win it.”
“Friarsgate is all that has mattered to me since I gained memory, Mama,” Elizabeth told her parent. “I do not need a husband for Friarsgate.”
“Perhaps not,” her mother said dryly, “but you surely need a husband for your child. And a handfast union will absolutely not do. You are not nobility like your oldest sister, but you are an heiress of some worth. Not some milkmaid or cotter’s lass. Your marriage must be celebrated in the church, my daughter.”
“If you send my stepfather to bargain with the master of Grayhaven he will certainly quarrel with him, Mama. Logan has always been most kind to me.”
“Then Thomas Bolton must go with him,” Rosamund decided. “And I will have to ride on the morrow myself to Otterly to fetch him.” She chuckled ruefully. “He will not be pleased to be forced out of his snug home in February and told he must travel north into Scotland. But he will do it because he loves his family, Elizabeth. Remember that. Family is all that truly matters in this world in which we live. The child you now carry in your belly is family, and his father must have the opportunity to love him even as you will love him.”
“We all say ‘him,’” Elizabeth noted. “What if it is a girl?”
“Then we will love her as well,” Rosamund said. She beckoned to Albert. “Who is the housekeeper now?”
“Jane, my lady, Maybel’s cousin,” he answered her.
“Tell her to prepare me a bed and then fetch me a hot meal. And tell my captain I would see him when he has finished his food,” Rosamund said.
